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Weekly ForceCast: June 3, 2011
Legendary Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter joins us in the ForceCast Cantina to talk about the history of the Star Tours attraction, from his initial meetings with George Lucas through the 2011 re-launch. GL opens up about the status of the live action series and addresses concerns about the limitations of 3D conversions and Dave Filoni reveals the tag line for The Clone Wars Season 4. Plus, Billy Dee, "Star Wars in Pop Culture," and much more. Guests *Tony Baxter, Walt Disney Imagineer Topics *In The Cantina: Tony Baxter, Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering **Baxter talked about the original Star Tours and the new version. He discussed meeting George Lucas and sketching out the original ride. **He described how Tom Fitzgerald arranged for Peewee Herman to get involved in the original ride. **They ran the original Star Tours ride for 5 days straight because demand was so high. During those days, lines formed around the clock and lasted for hours. **He mentioned that having riders enter Star Tours through the maintenance bay was George's idea. George also came up with the idea of having a crazy rookie pilot. **It was Baxter who convinced George to have Dennis Muren to create a Death Star trench run sequence. Muren had originally planned to create a different Death Star scene that didn't involve the famous trench, but Baxter says that he recognized the sentimental value of including the trench. *Billy Dee Quote of the Week **Billy Dee singing at Phoenix Comic-Con. **Billy Dee and his manager teased that fans would get some Williams-related news on StarWars.com in about 30 days. Jason speculated that it could be related to The Clone Wars. Jimmy was thinking about Seth Green's new series. *Star Wars in Pop Culture **NBC's Community recently featured a Star Wars-packed episode. **AMC's The Killing featured a scene where the characters discussed which was the real second Star Wars movie: AOTC or TESB. *Headline News **Star Wars fandom exploded after George Lucas appeared on G4's Attack of the Show and said that he had 50 hours of the live-action series "in the can." He was referring to scripts, but many took his words to mean that footage had been shot. Lucas went on to say that the series was on hold for cost reasons. He is currently trying to find a way to make a series of film-like caliber on a much smaller budget. He added that this cost-effectiveness and these new filming techniques would revolutionize the industry for producers and consumers. Jason and Jimmy discuss Lucas' plans for the series, including what they imagine his goals to be for the show and how his plans for the show fit into the changing relationship between movies and TV. **Lucas also discussed 3D during the AOTS interview. G4's Kevin Pereira asked him about the upcoming re-releases, and Lucas said that they were taking care to do it right. Jason says that Lucas and his team will do this right, because, as he says, they know that "when George speaks, the world listens." **At Star Wars Weekends on May 20th, Dave Filoni revealed that the upcoming fourth season of The Clone Wars will be subtitled "Battle Lines." Jason believes that this subtitle heralds the return of clear-cut, black-and-white conflict, as opposed to the gray areas featured in episodes like "Heroes on Both Sides." Significant quotes *Quotes go here. Audible.com Sponsorship *Visit AudiblePodcast.com/TFN for a free audiobook download.